Case Studies
Paradox Advisors has served a wide variety of firms in a broad array of strategic and operational challenges. Here is a sample of some projects we have tackled over the past 18 months.

  • Financial services firms – Entry into new markets
    • Product strategy and market segmentation; market entry go/no-go decisions
    • Definition of product specifications
    • Creation of risk management and pricing strategy, development of financial models and business pro-forma for the board
    • Establishment of metrics and plan milestones
    • Implementation; development and execution of market entry plans and new processes for acquiring and servicing new revenue streams
    • Interim management services prior to hiring permanent staff
  • Top US life insurer – implementation of new service initiatives
    • Service desk project assessment
    • Large Scale PMO staff augmentation
    • Service management strategy counseling
    • IT asset management, application portfolio assessment and architecture planning
  • US health insurers – informatics and customer experience strategy
    • Product innovation strategy, including economic analysis to determine the value and roll-out sequence of new product features
    • Creation of a consumer focused metrics organization
    • Specification of the management dashboard
    • Informatics strategy focused on delivering business value to employers, employees and providers
    • Implementation assistance, including IT requirements definition
  • Leading survey research firm – IT platform stability and scalability
    • IT operations improvement and organizational change leadership
    • Architecture assessment, vendor selection
    • CEO counseling on IT organization structure and business strategy
  • Manufacturing and service firms – global sourcing advisory
    • Economic analysis to create business cases for outsourcing scenarios
    • Risk assessments
    • Global scan of sourcing alternatives
    • Assistance in negotiating, managing and integrating outsourcing practices
    • Management of overseas vendors

We work with clients to solve difficult issues related to information technology. In fact, one of our core strengths is applying business discipline to technology investments.

Below are two case studies illustrating management paradoxes we have helped clients solve.


Paradox: Why do my IT costs keep rising, while I seem to be increasingly constrained by my systems? Isn’t technology supposed to cost less and deliver more value over time?

Situation: Often, there is a significant mis-match between an organization’s business objectives and how it invests in technology. In addition, most IT spending goes toward maintenance and ‘patches’ to legacy systems. The discretionary budget and ‘new project’ pipeline is spread thinly over many initiatives, with illusory bottom line benefits captured in future years, not today.

Results: Paradox has successfully worked with IT organizations and their business partners to:
  • Organize and sort literally hundreds of initiatives into a manageable number of discreet projects with clear business cases and ROI
  • Develop a master IT plan mutually understandable by business and IT managers
  • Manage interdependencies between projects and sequence them for maximum business benefit in the shortest possible time frames
  • ‘Pull the plug’ or cancel projects not clearly tied to business and IT objectives, freeing up 30% of one company’s budget for re-focus on higher return initiatives
  • Establish project management discipline and program management offices

Paradox: Why do 20% of my distributors contribute 80% of my growth (or profits), and how can I manage the others to contribute more?

Situation: An insurance company with thousands of distributors faced the daunting task of communicating risk appetite, managing account profitability and differentiating itself from competitors. The Marketing function struggled to define a clear value proposition to the distribution channel and communicate how it could serve different customer needs and customer segments. The challenge was exacerbated by the need to present a ‘single face’ to the market.

Results: Paradox consultants applied their deep experience in insurance and sales channel management. Lessons learned from the US and Europe in traditional, direct, and bank channels were applied to:
  • Develop a unique segmentation of the market and the distribution channels. Analyze the profitability of distributors by developing a ‘total company’ view, encompassing all lines of business
  • Understand of how distributors interact with multiple business units
  • Tailor new value propositions to specific distribution channel segments with a differentiated product mix, incentives, service levels and IT support
  • Manage financial performance by measuring progress against strategic goals.
©2009 Paradox Partners LLC